Question:
If one is certain that he has disposed of all chametz in his possesion, does he still have to participate in the sale of chametz with his Rav
I believe the Mishna Berura and Aruch Hashulchan differ on this
Answer:
Hello,
Although it can be argued that if the person is sure that there isn’t any chometz in his property, there is nothing to sell, so what is the point. Nevertheless, the minhag is to sell one’s chametz. (As a side point, we see this from the fact that everyone does bedikas chometz, nevertheless, they still sell the chometz to a gentile.) R’ S. Z. Auerbach zt”l, and others write that the reason for this is to strengthen the feeling of making sure that there is no chametz in one’s possession. See sources.
Best wishes
Sources:
כ' הליכות שלמה ניסן-אב פ"ו אות ג' וז"ל "גם אם ניקה ביתו כדין והוציא כל החמץ מרשותו, יעשה כל סדר המכירה לנכרי, וכן המנהג". וע"ש בדבר הלכה אות ה "שכדי לחזק ולהשריש בלבו ביעור וביטול החמץ, נהגו להסיר אפי חשש כלשהו ולמכור לנכרי כל חשש חמץ". וכן הובא בקובץ הלכות (פסח) פ"ח אות א'. ועק גם בס' הלכות חג בחג פסח פי"א א.
This year we went away for Pesach. We planned on getting rid of all our Chametz and i felt that there was not such a reason to sell the Chametz because no one was going to be in our house anyways. But still i did the Mechira. Surprise, surprise, when we came back we found that we had forgotten to bring some Chametz snacks that we left on top of the cupboard. Luckily, i had done the sale and it was ok.
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